NEW YORK (Reuters) - The bakers' union of Hostess Brands Inc asked the judge overseeing the company's bankruptcy on Tuesday to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to ensure an orderly wind-down.þþIn a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., lawyers for the union and a related pension fund said they objected to allowing ÿincumbent managementÿ to supervise the company's liquidation.þþHostess won permission from Judge Robert Drain last week to begin closing down, although it has expressed hope that many of its widely known brands, including Twinkies and Wonder Bread, would survive in the hands of new owners.þþThe liquidation began after the judge failed in a last-ditch effort to resolve the dispute between Hostess and the striking Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, which had refused to accept new wage and benefit cuts after earlier give-backs.þþThe union asked Drain to rule on its request for a trustee at the next court hearing on Thursday.þþIn papers filed opposing the request for an expedited decision, lawyers for Hostess said they believed there were ÿserious legal deficienciesÿ in the union's motion for a trustee.þþDrain has already rejected a request to convert the case into a Chapter 7 liquidation that would be overseen by a trustee, calling it a ÿdisasterÿ because of the potential delay in selling the company's assets.þþHostess decided to liquidate on November 16, saying it was losing about $1 million per day after the union, representing close to one-third of its workers, went on strike a week earlier.þþThe 82-year-old company filed for Chapter 11 protection on January 11, its second bankruptcy filing in less than three years.þþThe case is In re: Hostess Brands Inc et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-22052.þ
Source: Chicago Tribune
